China watched, concerned, as Japan fell to the ground. At least he was smiling. With a sigh, China dragged the now giggling nation to the other room. Time to worry about that later. He heaved the last of the countries out of the room that held the dreadful machine. A terrible pain ripped throughout his body, and he fell to his knees. He reached forwards and dragged himself away from the machine, not wanting to have had gotten everyone else out of there only to destroy it himself. He had just managed to shut the door when his vision blurred and he found himself inside of his mind.

Grey, grey, and other shades of grey. China clicked his tongue disapprovingly at his surroundings. It was HIS mind, shouldn't it be a little more… colourful? Oh well, hat could he do about it? He had tried before to decorate, but to no avail. The nanovirus in the corner watched him apathetically. It looked bored, if anything. Of course, that could be China's imagination, the nanovirus playing tricks on his mind, simply the way the nanovirus looked before, or… who knew. A splitting wave of pain coursed through Chinas body, and he fell to the ground gasping. The nanovirus smiled. Yup, it was bored.

"Problem?"

"Aiya, you know very well what the problem is!" Another round of pain hit China, and he was knocked to the ground. China hated this the most, the different waves and kinds of pain inflicted. It was like being mauled by a bear, then hit by a bus. And then mauled by a possessed bear that breathes bees. And then burned alive. Needless to say, it kind of sucked. China pulled himself up off the ground.

"Oh, poor thing. Does your owie hurt? Do you want a band-aid?" It smiled again, cackling at its own joke. "Perhaps I have one in the pantry! Let me go and check!" It disappeared, no poof of smoke or boom or pop. It just disappeared, much like it had just walked through a door that China could not see. China tried to get up but found he could not move. He was tied to the ground by thin sticky threads, much like spider webs. He groaned, slightly irked, and promptly fell over. This broke some of the threads on his left side, but his right side was now glued to the floor. He wiggled his feet, but it didn't do anything.

"My my, you've been busy. I couldn't find any Band-Aids, I hope this will do." China felt a searing pain in his chest, and discovered it was becoming increasingly difficult to breath. He tilted his head downwards and saw a large iron bar protruding from his ribs. He breathed in sharply, then shook his head, trying to calm himself. It was all in his head… BUT IT HURT! He winced, and looked at the nanovirus, who was standing there, swaying to his own little tune.

"Oh? Does it hurt, now? Such a shame, really." The nanovirus crouched down and ran a "finger" along China's cheek. "You really are SO pathetic." China replied by whipping his ponytail around, swiping it through the nanovirus's "arm"

"Hmm. That wasn't very nice." Placing a foot on China's chest, it pulled the iron rod out until only two inches of it remained in China's chest. It then tilted the rod slightly, and shoved it back in. China screamed.

"Now, that. That is beautiful." The nanovirus danced away from the screaming nation, kicking the rod as it twirled. The 4000 year-old nation screamed and writhed in agony. Really, what else did you expect him to do? Sing, "Oh he's a jolly good fellow?"

No. When the pain had subsided, China glared at the nanovirus angrily. It merely giggled and pointed at one of the walls.

"Hey, take a look!" when China looked, he saw it was a view of the world outside his mind, the real world. Struggling to get there, he crawled along the floor, as the nanovirus laughed and taunted him. He reached the wall, and placed a hand on it. Or rather, through it. China then proceeded to fall into the real world. And immediately found he could not move. Again. The nanovirus was still in control. As his body stood up and walked towards two figures standing in the middle of the room, China fought with all of his might. He refused to play along with this… this THING'S games anymore! He fought, not noticing the drama in the middle of the room, not noticing when he was nearly hit by a leg that had recently been granted the powers of flight by the Swede in the centre of the room. He fought valiantly. But nothing. Nothing changed. He had not moved, not of his own accord, and he gradually noticed the words and laughter coming out of his own mouth. And as he looked into the middle of that room, he realized something.

"One cannot live forever." He spoke inwardly, calmly, to the nanovirus.

"Eh?" it stopped its cackling and listened.

"I have had 4000 years of peace and war, happy times and sad. I have spent times with friends and family, and seen many nations come and go. I am one of the largest nations in Asia, and one of the strongest, aru. I have held off invasions by both Russia and Japan, among many others. But one cannot live forever. Once one has done everything one can, they can peacefully leave this earth." China took a breath, and the nanovirus, being the sadistic bastard it was, cut in.

"Oh, how wonderful! You actually believe that? How sentimental! How cute! How-"

"Quiet," China growled, holding up a hand. The terror in the centre of the taunting countries continued. "I have not done everything I can yet. I have long ago realized that was not possible. But there is one thing I CAN do, aru."

"And what is that?" the nanovirus was honestly curious now, what could this PUNY nation do that could affect anything?

"Sacrifice. Something you would know nothing about. When you win a battle, we get more time to try and defeat you, and vice versa." China waited for the nanovirus to reply. After a heartbeat, it did.

"Correct."

"Well then. You have won the battle with me. I surrender, on the terms you stop this nonsense with Sweden and Finland. And you let everyone else free for until your normal time to attack. And you do not take over until then." China waited, although rather impatiently.

"Hmm… I suppose I will stop… for the time being. And I guess I can wait until later to torture your fellow nations. So. Is it a deal?"

"Deal." They shook on it, hand in…. vague approximation of a hand, and China felt himself fade away. Death… was not painful. In fact, it was rather pleasant. He had not felt this happy since that day long ago... he only wished he could say goodbye, to apologize where apologies were due. Of course, who was to say he would never see them again? Perhaps there WAS an afterlife, like America said. Ah, well. He had never been one for religion. At least, not recently. He felt himself fading, and he smiled as he saw the scene before him calming down, Liechtenstein running up to Sweden. China closed his eyes and drifted away.

A.N. WHY. WON'T. IT. INDENT. FOR. DIALOGUE. anyway, this chapter was really sappy. but I thought an explanation of China's death was in order. Besides, hes epic and thus deserves an equally epic death. so. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Seriously. I love reading them. oh, and if you are wondering why China died, it was because my friend got a wok for her birthday.